Precocious candidates on Young Apprentice

WHAT was called Junior Apprentice has now been renamed Young, presumably because the candidates aren’t really kids.

WHAT was called Junior Apprentice has now been renamed Young, presumably because the candidates aren’t really kids.

They’re at least 16 and most of the dozen are frighteningly precocious.

That’s why we have to root for Ben Fowler, and not just because he’s a Brummie.

The 16-year-old is studying for a Business Diploma, started a gardening business three years ago and seems to have the right down-to-earth attitude.

He says: “I am an ordinary lad who wants to do the best, not just for myself but for everyone.”

I already like him a lot better than cocky Harry Maxwell, who boasts: “In terms of my intellect, self-motivation, confidence, and business instinct for my age, I am unrivalled. I have a pure entrepreneurial gift waiting to be unleashed.”

And then there’s Irishman James McCullagh, who says: “When winning gets in the way of integrity, integrity goes out the window.” I’m not sure Lord Alan Sugar would approve of that.

The format is still the same as last series and very similar to the adult version, except that Lord Sugar fires the teenager hopefuls a little less harshly.

In the first task, the six boys are pitted against the six girls in a challenge to create a range of frozen desserts.